Adjustable guide means for drawers and the like



July 11, 1961 o. F. MAXWELL ADJUSTABLE GUIDE MEANS FOR DRAWERS AND THE LIKE Filed June 12, 1959 FIG. 5

INVEN TOR. O. F. MAXWELL FIG.3

ATTORNEY 2,992,057 ADJUSTABLE GUIDE MEANS FOR DRAWERS AND THE LIKE Owen F. Maxwell, Davenport, Iowa, assignor to Brammer Mfg. Co., Davenport, Iowa, a corporation Filed June 12, 1959, Ser. No. 819,877 3 Claims. (Cl. 312-332) This invention relates to adjustable guide means for slidably o-r similarly mounting drawers and like elements in drawer-receiving supports.

The invention finds particular utility in the field of cabinets and the like in which slidable drawers are mounted for movement between open and closed positions. In this field, particularly Where the cabinetry is constructed wholly of wood, the fittings of drawers is often a tedious and time consuming proposition, and even in those cases in which metal or other especially provided guides are used, proper adjustment cannot always be easily secured, According to the present invention, however, these problems are eliminated by the provision of a simple adjustable guide so constructed as to readily accommodate a fairly wide range of adjustment so that the drawer may be readily fitted in its drawer-receiving space. It is a feature of the invention to provide the guide means in a simple form comprising a guide strip having adjustable supporting means, particularly constructed in the form of biasing means tending to urge the guide strip in one direction, in cooperation with means for regulating the bias so as to control the adjusted position of the strip, The strip is used as part of a pair with another strip at the opposite side of the drawer, in a preferred construction, and the two may be readily adjusted to accommodate the drawer to the drawer-receiving space whereby the drawer may be moved inwardly and outwardly easily and without binding. It is a further feature of the invention to provide means in the mounting construction for enabling vertical adjustment of the guide means so as to aline the drawer in its proper horizontal position. Further objects of the invention reside in a simple and economical construction which may be used in equivalent distances similar to drawers,

and which may further be mountable either on the drawer or on the support that carries the drawer.

The foregoing and other important objects inherent in and encompassed by the invention will become apparent as a preferred embodiment thereof is disclosed, by way of example, in the ensuing description and accompanying sheet of drawings, the several figures of which are described below.

FIGURE 1 is a plan view, with the top removed, of a typical cabinet or counter construction in which the slidable drawer is mounted by a pair of adjustable guide means.

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged fragmentary section generally on the line 2-2 of FIGURE 1 but with the front face of the drawer removed.

FIGURE 3 is a section on the line 33 of FIGURE 2, with the intermediate portions broken away to enable the use of a relatively large scale.

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary enlarged perspective of the forward portion of a preferred form of guide strip.

FIGURE 5 is a section generally on the line 55 of FIGURE 1.

' The cabinet chosen for the purposes of illustration is ttes Patent 0 f 2,992,057 Patented July 11, 1961 representative only and may take forms other than that illustrated. For present purposes, suffice it to note that the cabinet has opposite side walls 10 and a rear wall 12, being open at its front to afford a drawer-receiving space for a typical drawer 14. This drawer is closed at its front and rear by front and rear walls 16 and 18 respectively and further has opposite upright side walls 20 and a bottom 22. In view of the reversibility of the mounting means, to be presently described in detail, the drawer may be regarded as a drawer element and the side walls 10 of the cabinet may be considered support element. As already noted, something other than a drawer may be carried by the adjustable guide means; for example, a sliding board, a bin or equivalent element.

In the construction of the cabinet, the transverse distance between the cabinet side walls 10 is of course fixed. The transverse distance between the drawer walls 20 is likewise fixed but is normally made sufficiently smaller than the distance between the walls 10 so as to enable ready fitting of the drawer into the space, inasmuch as some form of guides must be used.

The difference in transverse dimension between the walls 10 and the walls 20 is such as to leave at each side of the drawer a space 24 which is of course transverse to the path of movement of the drawer 14 as it is moved between its open and closed positions. lit is in each of these spaces that a guide means is mounted. Each guide means is indicated in its entirety by the numeral 26. Since these are identical, except for the fact that one is a right and the other is a left, a detailed description of one will sufiice for both.

In the present case, the side Wall 20 at each side of the drawer carries thereon a Z-shaped strip 28 having a lower flange 30 received in a kerf in the proximate wall 20 and an upper flange 32 which runs only pant-way of the length of the strip, terminating short of the rear part of the strip, at which portion the strip is provided with a roller 34. At this point, it may be well to note that although rollers are employed in the mounting of the drawer, the drawer may still be regarded as being slidably mounted, the expression slidably being used as a term of convenience and not of limitation.

The strip 28 at each side of the drawer cooperates with a guide member in the form of a channel 36 having upper and lower laterally inwardly turned flanges 38 between which the roller 34 is received, the roller of course riding on the lower flange and being limited in upward movement by the top flange 38. The forward part of each guide member 36 carries a roller 40 on which the upper flange 32 of the Z-shaped strip 28 rides. When the guide members 36 are affixed to the inner surfaces of the proximate cabinet walls 10, the cooperating rollers and flanges carry the drawer for movement inwardlv and outwardly along a defined path.

The rollers and flanges additionally may be regarded as means for engaging the guide members 36 with the drawer. The members 36 are further mounted on the inner surfaces of the walls 10 by mounting means to be presently described.

Each member 36 has front and rear mounting means which may be regarded as identical and therefore are indicated by the same reference character 42. Each means 42 preferably comprises biasing means in the form of an elongated leaf spring 44 preferably disposed normal to the length of the member 36 and having its central portion rigidly attached to a terminal end of the member. Any suitable form of fastening may be employed, such as rivets indicated at 46 at the front end; although, welding may be resorted to as suggested at the rear end. The particular type of fastening is immaterial, as are the specific details of the relationship between each member 36 and its associated strip 28, since these components may be varied without altering the effect of the mounting means 42. Each leaf spring has opposite end portions 48, respectively apertured at 49 and laterally oifset from the plane of the central portion at the terminal end of the member 36. The end portions are preferably arcuate as shown for purposes to presently appear. The terminal end of the member and the central portion of the leaf spring 44 are apertured at 50 to provide a slot elongated in the direction of. the length of the leaf spring. Slots are provided of course at both ends of the assembly. These slots are adapted to receive fastening means, here in the form of common wood screws 52 which are passed respectively through the slots and screwed into the wood walls 10. The arcu-ate end portions 48 of the springs 44 contact the surface of the wall and the bias in the spring is such as to urge the assembly outwardly from the wall or toward the proximate wall 20 of the drawer. In other words, both guide means are urged inwardly in compressive relationship to the drawer. In assembly, the guide members 36 are located as to height, and the screws 52- are inserted and turned in loosely. Since the slots 50 provide for vertical adjustment of the assemblies, accurate horizontal alinement may be secured, and when this is accomplished, additional nails or wood screws 54 are passed through the apertures 49 in the ends of the springs 44 and are screwed into the wood walls 10. This permanently fixes the accurately positioned guides as to height. If the distance between the guides is required to be narrowed, the screws 52 may be backed ofi, so that the inherent bias in the springs will urge the guides inwardly. Conversely, if the distance should be increased, the screws may be turned in. In addition to the initial proper adjustment of the guides as to lateral spacing therebetween so as to readily accommodate the drawer in a proper fashion, subsequent adjustment may be made in the event that the drawer changes, as by shrinkage, expansion, warping, etc. There is sufficient flexibility in each of the springs 44 to allow an adequate range of adjustment.

The entire assembly at each side, comprising the guides 26, may be easily and inexpensively constructed of sheet metal of proper gage. The wood screws passed through the slots 50 provide simple and inexpensive means for accomplishing the adjustment. This is of course merely a representative form of the invention, but is one that is deemed acceptable on the basis of commercial experience. As already indicated, the details of the mounting of the strip 28 in the members 36 may be varied without losing the benefits of the adjustability established by the mounting means 42.. Other forms of biasing means may be used rather than the inherent bias in the leaf springs 44. Other types of adjustment to control the bias may be used in place of the screws 52. As already indicated, the present construction is simple, economical and lends itself to mass production methods. Features and advantages other than those enumerated will readily occur to those versed in the art, all of which may be achieved without departure from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a cabinet or the like having an upright support element including front and rear ends and a fore-andaft sliding element alongside of and closely spaced laterally from the support element to provide a space between the two, the improvement residing in guide means for mounting the sliding element on the support element for fore-and-afit relative movement, comprising: a guide unit including an elongated guide member disposed horizontally in said space and having front and rear ends and of such lateral dimension as to be spaced laterally from one element, said unit having first means for supporting the other element for fore-and-aft sliding and further having second means for mounting on said one element, said second means including an upright leaf spring at each end of said member, each spring having a central part fixed to the respective end of the member and upper and lower parts above and below said member and laterally offset from said central part toward and engaging said one element to space the member laterally away from said one element, said springs being yieldable to enable movement of said member laterally toward said one element, each spring having a vertical slot in its central part; a pair of screws passed respectively through the slots and threaded into said one element, said slots enabling initial selective vertical adjustment of the unit bodily relative to the screws and said one element and said screws being capable of being selectively tightened and loosened to respectively deflect and relax the central parts of the springs and accordingly to vary the spacing between the member and said one element; and securing means cooperative between said one element and the upper and lower parts of each spring for anchoring said pants in a selected vertically adjusted position of the unit while leaving the screws available to control the respective central parts so as to adjust the member laterally relative to said one element, each spring being sufliciently stifi to resist vertical shifting of its central part relative to its anchored parts during and after deflection or relaxation of said central part by its screw and thereby to negative the eflfectiveness of its slot whereby to retain said selected position of vertical adjustment.

2. In a cabinet or the like having an upright support element including front and rear ends and a fore and-aft sliding element disposed alongside of and closely laterally spaced from said support element to leave a space between the two, the improvement residing in guide means for mounting the sliding element onthe support element for fore-andaft relative movement, comprising a guide unit including an elongated guide member disposed horizontally in said space and of such lateral dimension as to be spaced laterally away from one element, said unit having first means for supporting the other element for sliding movement and second means for mounting said member on said one element, said second means including a spring fixed to each end of the member and biased to urge the member latenally away from said one element, each end of said member having a vertical slot therein; a pair of screws passed respectively through said slots and threaded into said one element, said slots enabling vertical adjustment of'said unit bodily relative to said one element and said screws being capable of being selectively tightened or loosened torespectively deflect and relax the springs and accordingly to vary the lateral spacing between said one element and the member; and securing means cooperative between said one element and the unit for negativing the ability of said slots to permit vertical adjustment and thus to secure a vertically adjusted position of the unit while leaving the unit free for lateral movement via control of the springs by the screws available to adjust the member laterally.

3. In a cabinet or the like having an upright support element including front and rear ends and a sliding ele- Y ment alongside of and closely laterally spaced from the support element to provide a space between the two, the improvement residing in guide means for mounting the sliding element on the support element for relative foreand-aft movement, comprising a guide unit including an elongated guide member disposed horizontally in said space and of such lateral dimension as to be spaced laterally from one element, said member having front and rear ends and first means for supporting the other .element for sliding movement forea-and-aft, said member further having second means for mounting the member on said one element and including firont and rear biasing means acting between said one member and said one element to urge the member laterally toward the other element, said second means further'including front and rear adjusting devices operative between the unit and said one element to control the respective biasing means and thus to vary the lateral spacing between the member and said one element, and each of said devices including vertical lost-motion means between said one element and the unit for enabling selective vertical adjustment of the unit rela References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 355,167 Holbrook Dec. 28, 1886 413,028 Clapp Oct. 15, 1889 697,471 Gercke Apr. 15, 1902 

